FRANK: I had a perfectly good house in Westerly.

I'd just like that entered into evidence.

Then somebody started talking about Florida.

Warm winters. Sunshine. Friends. A new community. No snowblower.

Everybody made it sound wonderful.

You know what else doesn't have a snowblower?

My house in July.

Do We STAY/GO? is what happens when a simple retirement question—stay where you are or start somewhere new?—stops being simple.

Rose could see possibilities. Rita had opinions. Everybody had opinions.

I had questions.

Because leaving a house isn't always about leaving lumber, shingles and property taxes. Sometimes you're leaving the place where your memories finally learned to stay put.

And sometimes the person who appears stubborn isn't afraid of the future.

He's protecting the past.

But then Florida opened a door. New people came through it. Friendships appeared where nobody expected them. And gradually the question changed.

Maybe life doesn't always ask you to choose between what you had and what comes next.

Maybe there's room for both.

Did I agree to Florida?

I'm not answering that here.

There's a book. Read it.